Vatican salvation document makes waves

Published: Saturday, September 09, 2000

VATICAN CITY {AP} The Vatican's reaffirmation of the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church over other religions is the latest salvo fired by conservatives in a behind-the-scenes battle on the church's agenda for the coming years.

The declaration Tuesday broke no new doctrinal ground, but its tone and the mere fact that it was issued drew expressions of dismay from leaders of other denominations.

And coming on the heels of other developments, it suggested that conservatives hold the upper hand in outlining what actions a successor to Pope John Paul II could take.

"It is a sign of a silent and tenacious battle taking place," said papal biographer Marco Politi, who covers the Vatican for the Rome newspaper La Repubblica.

Recent Vatican documents have sought to end debate on issues pressed for by liberals within the church, reaffirming the prohibition on women becoming priests and on divorced and remarried Catholics receiving communion.

And a document circulated internally this summer but not made public stresses the Catholic church's identity as "mother" of all churches and decries what it called the common misuse of the phrase "sister churches" in ecumenical dialogue.

The Vatican said it issued the latest document regarding religious pluralism because of the spread of "religious relativism" that it said was endangering the church's missionary message.